TESTAMENT vocalist Chuck Billy has announced his forthcoming memoir, Holding My Breath: The Two Testaments Of Chuck Billy, set for release on November 10, 2026 via Permuted Press. Pre-orders are available now at chuckbillybook.com.
Co-written with Dave Erickson, the book is structured around the two parallel narratives that define Billy's extraordinary life. The first half chronicles his rise alongside the Bay Area thrash metal movement — from the streets of California to sharing stages worldwide with METALLICA, SLAYER, and ANTHRAX, as TESTAMENT became one of the genre's most enduring forces. The second half turns inward: Billy's cancer diagnosis at age 38, his Native Pomo and Mexican-American spiritual roots, and the legendary 2001 "Thrash Of The Titans" benefit concert that rallied the entire metal community in his support.
"There are two versions of me that are really just one story," Billy explained of the book's structure.
The foreword is written by JUDAS PRIEST vocalist Rob Halford, with an afterword by LAMB OF GOD's Randy Blythe — two voices who understand both the weight of heavy metal history and the cost of surviving it. The memoir also highlights Billy's Native American heritage and his work with Indigenous communities, including recognition from the California State Assembly and a feature in the Smithsonian's National Museum exhibition on Native musicians in popular culture.
Now 63, Chuck Billy remains one of the most commanding voices in heavy metal. His story — of triumph, illness, cultural identity, and resilience — is one of the genre's most compelling human narratives.